As they say in the classics, “It’s not the size of the dog…”. Beckett even got a B&F point when he played up an age group on Saturday.
It was three weeks between games, but our top grade men’s teams finally set foot on home soil for their matches on Saturday.
And it was a solid day out, with first grade beating Briars 8-0, second grade winning 3-1 and thirds causing Sutho fans heart attacks with an after-the-siren short corner conversion to draw 2-2.
Our ladies had a good weekend too, with our Sydney Womens Hockey League team remaining unbeaten and our SEHA first grade women recording their first win of the season.
While there are congratulations going around, everyone at Sutho wishes Super-Blues fan Bill Turner best wishes on his 90th birthday.
Our match reports are very long this week because your editor was away on holidays and skipped an edition. All the reports from the previous week follow the latest contributions from our managers and other correspondents.
Thank you for your help, and of course to our wonderful photographers, who once again sent in great shots. Unfortunately, we had more pictures submitted than match reports (hint, hint managers!).
So, here we go with the match reports from April 30-May 2, followed by those we received from the previous week’s games.
Men
Sutho 1st grade 8 Briars 0
Another reasonable day at the office with not too much opposition from Briars. With six of our regular 1st graders out for different reasons on the day we once again patched up the side to perform admirably especially the younger brigade from 2nd grade doubling up.
These boys get better and better with every game they get under the belt and with the guidance of the senior players in the team makes our future look strong.
Angus Callinan, Riley Nilan and Wade Tonna for the second week in a row played strong parts in the match after playing full games in 2nds. Not an easy task.
A pleasing point in our team is that there is a good spread of goal scorers each week, thus not relying on one or two to bring the bacon home. Last week we had seven goal scorers and this week five.
The goal of the match was Alex Shaw’s punt into the net from close quarters showing once again his great ability and versatility as a player taking up the striker’s role upfront when really a defender.
It was a non-stop workload from the senior players with Jack Hayes showing why he was part of the Australian squad and the never-say-die MJ who never stops during a game.
Harry Roberts continues to mature as a 1st grader and again scoring a goal – which seems to be becoming a regular occurrence. Billy Hernandez is also growing with every match and showing confidence and strength on the ball.
Our next match will be another test playing NWS at home. This will be a 1 (us) v 4 in the competition – but Strikers have played a game less than us due to a bye. So it’s important for us to perform at our best to maintain our 1st position in the competition.
B & F: Brady Anderson 1, Alex Shaw 2, Matt Johnson 3. Goals: Alex Shaw 2, Jack Hayes 2, Matt Johnson 2, Harry Roberts 1, Brady Anderson 1.
Sutho 2nd grade 3 Briars 1
Another glorious Saturday arrived, and thankfully we were blessed with a home match – the first in three weeks. For our return to Sutho, we faced off against an old rival, the mid-table Briars. Having won the past two games, we were certainly keen to continue our winning ways in this highly anticipated match up.
The Saturday traffic and early morning work for a few members of our team, led to some late arrivals – with one player jogging into the field gates to avoid being late – while another attempted to break the laws & physics of space-time, as he tried to teleport from Mosman to Sutherland in under 20 minutes. He was very unsuccessful, so he started on the bench.
For this contest we also without our Number One stroke taker, who strained his hammy while training legs for the first time in years. We did welcome back the guy with the speaker after his two-week absence, and he didn’t not disappoint.
As with any match, we aimed to keep our simplistic approach of ball control, basics and communication. Although we were touted as the stronger side, Briars have managed to surprise us a few times over the years – so we knew, we needed to be switched on this week.
The game commenced with our team taking early possession and dominance – transferring the ball through our midfield and back-line. We found vast amounts of space out wide, creating two v one’s along the sidelines.
This lead to numerous first-half opportunities and corners – of which we converted one beautifully struck corner, and tapped away another goal in quick succession after some wonderful long passing and transferring.
This game was essentially ours to lose, and we gave it a good crack in the third quarter. Briars, playing no differently, just longer (hit and hope for the best), managed to jag a goal through some sloppy play on our part. However, their attempted comeback was quickly ended as we converted our third goal from another corner routine; tapping the ball in off the deflection and keeper’s pads.
We emerged 3-1 victors on our home turf. A far from pretty game, but three points is three points – and we can certainly take many positives from the match as we displayed glimmers of our true skill through our sharp simple hockey and game plan.
Best and fairest: 3 Wade Tonna 2 Joe Huston 1 Hayden Neale.
Sutho 3rd grade 2 Briars 2
This week’s game turned out to be tougher than most of us expected, with Briars putting up a fight for all 70 minutes.
We were off to a solid start with Matt Vine scoring from close in, but Briars arguably took more control of the game afterwards.
Sutho lacked the ‘oomph’ needed to get the 3 points, and limited subs made this more evident as the game progressed.
We managed to claw back in the fourth quarter, and a short corner after the buzzer gave Scott Crisafi the opportunity to put one away after some great shots earlier in the game.
B&F: Mitchell Scott 2, Ollie Bollard 2, Ollie Turner 2. Goals Matt Vine and Scott Crisafi.
Sutho 5th grade 4 Northern Districts 0
5th grade played a great game this weekend. It was our first win of the season: 4-0.
The whole team played incredibly well and some amazing goals. All the hard work at training paid off. But we have got a lot to work on, like any team.
Sutho 7th grade 1 Glebe 5
On a lovely sunny afternoon, we had a good game of hockey against Glebe. It was two very equal teams both having good chances at each end, but Glebe made better use of their chances and were 2-0 up at half-time.
We continued playing well in the second half before Glebe made it three-nil. Soon after we scored our first goal of the season to make it 3-1, a nice touch in from Conner who was close by to take the chance.
Morale picked up and we played extremely well until Glebe got two very quick goals in a very short time from a lack of defence. A good game, but unfortunately a loss of 5-1.
Best and fairest: Conner Crowley 3 Charles Weaver 2 and Scott Calder 1.Goal scorer: Conner Crowley.
Women
SWHL
Sutho 4 St George Randwick 0
This week we played our first game on the main pitch at Olympic Park and came home with a convincing win.
We dominated field position and possession in the first two quarters and had several unlucky shots on goal before Iris and Hannah converted a clever short corner to give us a 1-0 lead at half time.
In the third and fourth quarters, we created more opportunities by using our strong passing game to get around the defence.
Elissa showed her flexibility by stepping up as a striker and scoring a well-earned goal. Chloe A also scored a cracking goal from just inside the circle, and Iris added another to her tally to consolidate her lead as the highest goal scorer in the SWHL open competition.
Our backline worked tirelessly throughout the game in warm conditions to keep the opposition scoreless. Special mention to Sarah for putting her body on the line to close out the final few minutes for the team.
B&F: Chloe A 3 Camille 2 Jacqui G 1. Goals: Iris 2 Elissa 1 Chloe A 1.
SEHA
Sutho 1st grade 2 Easts 1
It was a great afternoon for hockey on Saturday as we secured our first win of the season, getting up 2-1 over Easts.
The team connected really well with some very promising passages of play throughout the game.
Overall an excellent match and we can’t wait to continue to build as a team.
Best and fairest: 3 Emily Cherrie, 2 Georgia Cherrie, 1 Jackie Turner. Goals: Alex Noy.
Sutho 2nd Grade 0 Easts 2
The second home game of the season saw the 2nds take on Easts. In what was a tightly contested first half, which involved strong defence and many attacking opportunities, we were unable to convert.
At half time we were down 1-0; it reflected a strong first half defensive performance and improving ball skills.
The ladies started the second half fast and strong, as we continued to leverage off the strong defensive base to play more open and attacking hockey. It was great impatience that we eagerly sought a goal – but we were unsuccessful.
Ultimately Easts capitalised on some tired legs and scored late in the 2nd half to go up 2-0.
Neither team managed to score again, with the final score of 2-0 to Easts.
There were many learning opportunities to take away from today’s game and will be key focuses for our future training sessions. The ladies are looking forward to the upcoming game in a fortnight’s time.
Best and Fairest: 3 Emily 2 Sasha 1 Hillary.
Sutho 3rd Grade Wildcats 2 Easts 0
Firstly thanks to young Isabella for filling in at goalie and saving a certain goal.
We also welcomed a new player to our team – Jenny McGregor. We won 2-0, but it was not until the third quarter that we scored when Kath scored a brilliant goal to slot the ball into the right corner.
We were also awarded a penalty stroke. With Lyn, our stroke specialist on the sideline, Lois stepped up and slotted the ball into the bottom left-hand corner.
Points: Lyn Smith 3, Kath Hails 2 and 1 Lois Scott.
Juniors
Metro
Sutho U17 Metro 2 Glebe 0
With a repeat from the start of last week’s game, Lachlan T was in with our first goal against Glebe within the first 90 seconds…a fantastic shot and also his first goal in his hockey career.
It was definitely a game for our attackers this week as we spent most of our game playing in the Glebe goal end. Attempt after attempt, we tried to gain a greater lead but unfortunately, we weren’t able to score again during gameplay.
We were awarded a penalty short corner in the first half which Oliver successfully put into the goal, securing our 2-0 lead.
The second half saw us maintain our lead and keep Glebe to a zero score as our defenders worked hard to keep the ball out of our goal end but on the odd chance that some slipped through, some great saves were made by our goalie Grace.
Keep up the communication between each other – we are starting to hear you from the sideline.
Looking forward to you coming back next week Lachlan S, thanks for being on the support crew again and also thanks to Christopher and Thomas for backing up with a second game, each, for the night.
Don’t forget to look out for Dave doing his push-ups at training this week
Best & Fairest: 3 Jett Austin 2 Oliver Bollard 1 Corban Marinos. Goals: Lachlan Todd 1 Oliver Bollard 1.
Wally Award (weekly team award): Grace Matthews for kitting up as goalie, playing the whole game and barely touching the ball.
Sutho U15 Metro 3 Glebe 0
Last Friday our 15 Metro team faced off against Glebe in our fourth match of the season, at Greenhills.
After last week’s loss, we were keen to regain our winning form and aimed to play a more expansive and possession style of hockey.
The game was very back and forth – Glebe played an extremely unorganised and congested style, with all of their players always within a few metres of the ball and each other.
Our structure, using a back four in defence, created space for us to transfer the ball through our midfield, engaging our wing-halves and attacking midfield.
Through the use of width, we looked at the better side; constructing plays and attacks, built on short sharp passing, and the goal to avoid running the ball through the middle.
Our counterattack play came to our aid as well, using the vast amount of pace around the team, any loose ball was quickly swept upon and hurried upfield, which led to numerous opportunities.
In a rushed game, and against an unorganised structure of Glebe, our 15s managed to come away with a 3-0 victory, and 3 points on the table.
We displayed wonderful signs of improvement from last week, but still have some big steps to make in our ball movement and gameplay – but certainly, there were positive signs in only our fourth game.
Points: 3 Rhys Bollard 2 Louis Olsen 1 Camille Rogerson.
SEHA
Sutho U17 Geckos 3 Glebe 0
Our first win of the season and our best game of the year so far. From the start of the game we dominated, Glebe was unable to break our strong defence and we were able to quickly turn this into an attack. With the improvement in passing and communication on the field we were able to put pressure on Glebe.
Our teamwork found Nicholas with an opportunity to open the scoring taking us to a 1-nil lead a quarter time.
The second quarter saw us maintain the pressure on Glebe, creating scoring opportunities only to be denied by their keeper and going into half time with the 1 nil lead.
Going into the third quarter we knew that if we could maintain the pressure it was only a matter of time before we could get that second goal. Again our defence did a fantastic job denying the Glebe attack the chance to get close to our goal.
We quickly changed defence into attack. That second goal finally came, when once again with great passing Kai found the back of the goal and we took a 2-nil lead into the final quarter.
The final quarter again saw us maintain the attack and we were finally able to put our third goal away when Jack found the back of the goal, taking us to the final score of 3-nil.
Apart from our first win of the season and the teamwork shown on the field, the most pleasing part of the game was that during the breaks all the team not only listened to what Jo and other players had to say, but they took this feedback onto the field.
Once again a BIG thank you to Lucy from the U15s for helping us out, having that one reserve made a huge difference.
Points this week was a difficult decision as the whole team played well.
Best and fairest: 3 Nicholas 2 Zara 1 Megan.
Sutho U15A Geckos 10 UNSW Blue Whales 0
On a late Friday evening at Daceyville, the Sutho Geckos had a convincing win against the UNSW Blue Whales 10-0.
Sutho dominated the whole game, rarely venturing back into our half of the field. We scored 4 goals in the first quarter, 2 in the second, 1 in the third, and then a final 3 to lock the result down in the last quarter.
Our focus at training shone through with our solid structure building up plays, and some excellent leading and pressure on the opposition gave our team a stranglehold across the field.
Special mentions go to Piper, who was a constant threat to her marking players, Mylo who had a cracker playing out of his regular goalkeeping position as a striker while scoring and setting up some excellent goals. It’s not often a player gets a hat trick of goals, but in this case, we had two players who did just that!
t was a great first game back from Riley, scoring a hat trick and had plenty of goal assists. And congrats to Lachlan who not only had a top game in the mid-field but also bagged 3 goals himself!
Huge thanks to Jacob for filling in as goalie at such late notice, and for doing a great job keeping himself occupied, and stopping the ball from going into the goals the few times when needed.
Thanks to Kai Fisher for filling in for our injury-depleted team (and for scoring a goal). The mercy rule meant we eventually had 5 players on the bench for much of the last quarter, but it was great to see that we can score goals when we want to, and our defence is solid as ever not allowing any goals against us. Awesome work, Geckos!
Thank you to the umpires, coaches, and the UNSW Blue Whales for a great game.
Best and fairest: 3 Piper Murphy 2 Riley De Soza 1 Archie Groundwater. Goals: Mylo Collins 1 Riley De Soza 3 Lachlan Hoy 3 Piper Murphy 1 Bailey Peters 1 Kai Fisher 1.
Sutho U15B Thorny Devils 1 Moorebank U15A 7
It was a beautiful sunny Saturday morning at Sutho Hockey Park and we were in for a great game of hockey. Sutho started the game with 8 players, soon to be 9 and defended gallantly against a red-hot Moorebank team. The first quarter saw Sutho mostly defending; at its end, the score was 5-0 against us.
The team remained positive and during the 2nd quarter, Sutho defended again and were able to break down some good attack from Moorebank. We made a few breaks up the field and showed some great teamwork and passing.
We had to make a quick change of goalie due to an unfortunate injury, which resulted in one of our own who came to support due to injury, step up and jump into the goals. We trailed 5-0 at half time.
We were unfortunately short, but Moorebank offered Sutho two players, Myron and Adam, to join our team for the remainder of the game. This was a great boost to Sutho and we were attacking in their 25 a large part of the 3rd quarter. Our passing and forward play was excellent and Sutho scored through a great attacking opportunity which resulted in a goal. (There was a giant cheer! – Editor)
The final result was a 7-1 loss with Sutho accepting defeat after a hard-fought game. Sutho lifted and showed true spirit and never gave up. Every player should be proud of their achievements on the field today.
Thanks to Moorebank for showing compassion and true sportsmanship in lending your players to Sutho today. That is what hockey is about, not winning or losing; it’s about having fun and sportsmanship.
Best and Fairest 2 Tilly Hale 2 Skye Barlow 2 Nicholas McGrath.
Sutho 13A Geckos 9 UNSW Humpbacks 0
With a friendly match, three players down and two borrowed U11 players, we were glad for the opportunity for a game.
We started out in the first quarter following the ball and forgetting to use the whole field. But as we started to play our own game, we remembered to spread out, make clearer passes and started scoring goals.
Leo scored the first 2 goals in the first quarter with passes from Julian and Jack giving us a 2-0 lead. By half time we were leading 5-0. There were also many attempts at goal with none going in.
Only pure determination saw Jack finally put his first goal away for the game and then by the third quarter he had put away another two.
In the last quarter, we were forced to use the drop off rule (our third one for the season so far), as we reached 8-0.
We also decided to mix things up a bit and play out of our usual comfortable positions. We saw some of our defenders in the forwards and vice versa. This also gave Darcy the opportunity to score himself a goal as well.
A great game was also had by our two borrowed players, Ethan and Lincoln, who ran the whole game on a full-sized field, rather than their usual half-field games. Awesome effort boys, and thanks for filling in for us.
Best & Fairest: 3 Darcy Matthews 2 Isabelle Fletcher 1 Luka Collins. Goals: Jack Margetson 3 Leo Matthews 3; Julian Krepp 2 Darcey Matthews 1.
13A Sutherland Blue Tongues 5 UNSW Orcas 2
It was a sunny Saturday morning at Hockey Park and the Blue Tongues had a good warm-up ready to play.
The first half was amazing. Lots of passing up the wing and our forwards were on fire.
The defence was kept busy with a few breakaways and some awesome keeping by Issac.
The second half saw Lauren get a great ball from Tully to score her second goal.
Our forwards went to town, really working together to put pressure on UNSW’s backs and goalie.
There were some great short corners from the Blue Tongues, while our defensive corners were broken down and cleared well.
Overall a great game, lots of fun. Thanks for the great coaching, Sarah and Riley. And a Big Thank You to Beckett for playing up.
Best and fairest: Issy Olup 3 Lauren McNally 2, Beckett Hollyman 1 point. Goals by and Lauren 2 Cooper, Tully and Kalani.
Sutho U13B Bearded Dragons 0s St. George Randwick 2
The Bearded Dragons were on the back-foot early with a goal scored by St. George Randwick in the first couple of minutes. Nonetheless, they managed to repel further strong attacks from the opposition for the rest of the first half with good defence.
Our two stand-ins for this week, Rhydian and Cayleb from the U11s, asserted themselves well in the older age group by making some good forays with the ball into the opposition half throughout the game.
Opportunities were hard to come by for both teams. There were some close chances narrowly missed by the Bearded Dragons – but the opposition made the most of theirs by scoring again late in the second half leaving the final score at 2-0.
Goal conversion of the scarce opportunities turned out to be the difference between the two sides as the play was fairly even with neither side dominating play.
Best and fairest: 3 Ariana 2 Evan 1 Bridget.
Matches
April 23-24
SWHL
Sutherland 2 UNSW 2
This round fell on ANZAC day and we were extremely lucky to have Hannah speak to the importance of the day prior to the game. She told us all to play this game for someone, and play with courage. Thank you Han for this speech and for your service in the army.
From the moment the game started Sutherland showed a lot of intensity and great communication. Within the first two quarters, we scored two goals and felt good going into the second half. In the third quarter fatigue starting to set in, and minutes into it, UNSW scored a goal.
In the 4th quarter, they scored their last and we managed to keep it at a draw from there.
Overall, it was a great game for the top of the table clash. The girls learnt a lot and there were great points made during the post-match team talk to take with us for our future tough games.
Points: Elissa 3, Jacqui 2, Iris 1. Goals: Kiara 1, Chloe B 1.
Men
Sutho 1st grade 12 Northern Districts 1
Our boys played some good constructive hockey. Especially pleasing was that the team never lost composure and retained their high standards throughout the match.
With a number of regular 1st graders out, our 3 subs from 2nd grade – Angus Callinan, Riley Nilan & Wade Tonna – never put a foot wrong.
A high point of the game was when Michael Sharkey scored a great goal, his first in first grade, to the cheers of his teammates. Other pleasing aspects were Harry Roberts hitting the target 4 times as well as MJ getting his rhythm on his drag flicks from penalty corners.
Former Sutho goalie Damon Arapa, who moved on to Northern Districts this year, was literally pummelled with shots. The umpires gave him the 3 points for the B & F.
B & F: Mitch Wray 1, Harry Roberts 2, Matt Johnson 3. Amongst the goal scorers were 4 for Harry Roberts, a hat trick for Matt Johnson and a double for Jack Hayes.
Sutho 2nd grade 3 Northern Districts 0
Last weekend we made the lengthy & road rage-inducing trek to Pennant Hills, in order to face off against the Northern Districts.
In the beaming sun and cooling breeze, we were set to play against what we knew, “should be” our most manageable of opponents to date this season.
We were missing a few numbers again this week – with one coach unavailable in Brisbane, another coach, who, due to some squad unavailabilities across the grades, was forced to come out of retirement and face heckling from us while he played 3rd grade (not to worry folks, he’s an athlete).
To cap it off, we were again missing the guy who brings the speaker and pays for Spotify premium – after we learned he did not have a ‘stress-relieving’ trip to Tasmania, he decided another weekend off was needed.
Our contest against Districts started very evenly after a rather unorthodox and disjointed pre-match than we are used to. A little slow on our part, Districts came out all guns blazing, looking to catch us off guard with their speed and counter-attack.
After a few minutes and patience, we adjusted our style to combat their rushed game plan. Our ball control and possession in wide areas created numerous goal-scoring opportunities and in the second quarter, we converted three goals within quick succession.
As the second term came about and a comfortable three-nil lead in hand, our challenge was to see out this match by remaining focused on our goal and keeping our intensity. We strung together some nice plays and possessions and defended our own goal from some scrappy counter attacks.
Despite our opportunities and dominance, the scoreline did not change, as we secured all three points. Far from our best display, we demonstrated desire and focus against a weaker opponent in a contest that was ours to lose – after all, to drive all that way and not win would’ve made a long drive home even longer, so we are all too happy with the points.
Points: 3 Ian McClung 2 Mason Neale 1 Zac Keelan. Goals 2 Mason Neale 1 Mathew Turner.
Sutho 3rd grade 9 Northern Districts 0
Sutho’s 3rd grade match up with Northern Districts can mean only one thing – a 2-hour car trip just to make it to the field.
With last week’s disappointing draw still fresh in everyone’s minds, Sutho came out with one goal, to dominate.
Sutho quickly implemented this plan into action with goals coming quickly to begin the game, and at the end of the first quarter, they held a 3-0 lead. With heads high Sutho built on this in the second, putting another 4 between the posts to push the lead to 7-0 at the half.
Due to an array of injuries, Sutho’s bench was looking very thin, but not even fatigue could stop them, as they scored 1 goal each in the 3rd and 4th quarters pushing the final score to a 9-0 win..
Best and fairest: 3 Scott Crisafi 2 Oli Turner 1 Lachlan O’Leary. Goals: 5 to Scott, 2 Tim Mall, 1 Paul Newton, 1 Mitchell Scott
Sutho 4th grade 5 Bankstown 0
It was a really great performance by 4th grade this week. We started off strongly and, like coach Wiggins is always reminding us, we were able to trap pass and move the ball, creating lots of space through our attacking mids and using that to create plenty of opportunities.
Throughout the match, we were getting plenty of trapping practice as our opponents’ strategy seemed to revolve around hitting the ball as hard as they could in an attempt to penetrate the circle or get it past our midfield to one of their players, who were usually closely followed by one of the defenders.
In the first half, Sutho was dominating the game, with Bankstown looking dangerous a few times in their attacking half – but were ultimately held out.
Our first goal came from a short corner fairly early in the first quarter with a brilliant hit by Jack, into the bottom left corner. The second came from Huon Bollard, and, not wanting to be shown up by his brother, Oli Bollard came up with a screamer of a deflection from a wonderful pass from the semi-injured Jimmy Northwood.
Jimmy proceeded to deem his contribution was enough and sub himself off.
Our fourth goal came about from a drag flick by Jack on a short corner that was aiming for the right net at around chest height but collected the postie instead.
After a quick deliberation by the umpires, a stroke was awarded and Jimmy nominated himself to take it before anyone could say otherwise! Luckily he put it away cleanly or I doubt he would ever have lived it down
We were able to maintain most of our form into the second half. Bankstown got their first short corner when a clearing ball was raised accidentally and collected Jack on the knee, but we were able to hold them out successfully and keep them from scoring any. Our first goal in the second half came off a deflection from Wiggins, our second from another drag-flick from Jack this time finding the net, not the player.
Best and Fairest: 3 Oli Bollard 2 Huon Bollard 1 Dave Hindmarsh.
Sutho 7th grade 0 Bankstown 2
On a beautiful weekend at Sutherland Hockey Club with family supporters in the crowd seventh-grade took to the field with high hopes.
We played exceedingly well for the whole game but just couldn’t convert the chance we had.
Some awesome tackling and some good passing as normal, but we just let two goals in scored by one young quick fellow on the Bankstown team.
It was an entertaining and friendly game and we are looking forward to the return match later in the season.
Best and fairest: Caleb Nieuwendyk 3 Jordan Wood 2 Phil Rowling 1.
Juniors
Sutho U17 Metro 3 Mosman 4
With a few battle wounds from the CHS Syd East competition that was played this week, we started the game with two of our players out with injury. This left us with a bare team. Thankfully we had Thomas and Christopher stay and back up for a second game. Thanks, boys.
Within the first 90 seconds, we had scored our first goal, thanks to Tom and this put the pressure on Mosman to try and even out the score. We spent a good portion of the first half of the game in the Mosman goal end, trying to gain a bigger margin making good tackles and taking some great leads and by half time the score had been evened out to 2-2.
The second half saw us throwing overheads with direction to our players, some great overheads were thrown by Oliver and Jonathon. More time was spent in our goal end in the second half with some spectacular saves made by Grace.
The pressure was building, and we managed to score another goal putting us in the lead. Mosman came back and scored again to even out the match. We fought to the very end trying to gain the upper hand but with two minutes to go, Mosman put a quick goal away and made their way to the lead with the final score ending up 3-4.
Communication between ourselves, both on and off the field, could be heard by everyone around the field. Working as a team, listening to each other, making leads, passing and especially fitness is what made the game for us. Although we didn’t come away with a win, we could not have asked for a better result.
Hope your injuries heal quickly Lachlan S & Blake. Thanks for coming to the game to be the support crew.
Best & Fairest: 3 Grace Matthews 2 Oliver Bollard 1 Tom De Soza. Goals: Tom De Soza 2 Christopher Goodman 1. Wally Award (weekly team award): Jett Austin – for being the energizer bunny who just kept going & going & going & …
Sutho U17 Geckos 2 Sutho Blue Tongues 2
With both teams looking for their first win of the season it was bound to be a great game.
With our attack weakened with a couple of small injuries we knew that we had to take our chances when we had them and our defence would have to step up from the last couple of weeks to keep the Blue Tongues out.
Our defence was the strongest all year with players backing each other up and determined not to let the Blue Tongues get a shot at goal. When they did, Liv was there to save the day.
Slowly our strong defence turned into attack and it wasn’t too long before we were able to break through with Jack scoring the first goal of the game and our season. It took the Geckos into a 1-nil lead at quarter time.
The second quarter saw the Blue Tongues back on the attack and it was only a matter of time before they broke through and equalised, taking us to half time at 1-1.
The second half looked like it was going to be a battle to the finish, with both teams holding a strong in defence and not able to get through to take the lead. However, the Blue Tongues were able to get their second scoring a great goal in the third quarter to take the lead at the final break.
We were desperate to get the equalizer and the Blue Tongues were desperate to hold onto the lead and with it the Lizard Trophy.
With only a matter of minutes left in the game Taja, through a perfect cross, was able to find Nicholas who somehow was able to get the ball into the goal for the equaliser. The final few minutes saw both teams have the chance to score that winning goal but time ran out and the games remained tied at 2-2. With it, the Lizard Trophy did not have a home.
After consulting the referees, coaches and the players it was decided that there would be a best of 5 shoot-out for the Lizard Trophy (and for a bit of fun).
Our goalie Liv attacked, not allowing the Blue Tongues to get a shot away and ended up saving all 5 shoot-out attempts. Jack, Zara, Nicholas and Ethan scored for the Geckos and delivered a home for the Lizard Trophy.
Although it was fun for the players to have the penalty shootout, the game will be remembered for the great battle on the field and the sporting support between the teams. We look forward to the next time we meet.
This week the 3 points went to Harley, 2 to Liv and 1 to Nicholas.
Sutho U15B Blue Tongues 10 Glebe 1
The Blue Tongues were on fire this week, scoring 10 goals against Glebe.
Our passing and our thirst for the ball improved significantly. Dominic scored a bag full of five goals, one of which was an individual effort from the centre line all the way into the circle.
Our best goal involved a pass from mid-field from India to Dominic who had a shot on goal. The keeper saved it but Nayah trapped it and passed it across the face of goal for Manny to score.
Our defence was rock solid until the last minute of the game where Glebe managed to get one goal during a short corner.
Best and fairest: 3 Manolis Delimarkou 2 India Faber 1 Byron Faber. Goals: Dominic Lenzo 5 Manolis Delimarkou 2 India Faber 2 Byron Faber 1.
Sutho U15B Thorny Devils UNSW Belugas
It was 7 pm on Friday night when the U15B Thorny Devils took to the field to vs UNSW Belugas. We took an early lead, scoring 2 spectacular goals in the first half. We used the strength and speed in the midfield to quickly pass the ball effectively to our teammates.
Our strong defence was able to defend our goal and keep UNSW away scoreless. We had many more opportunities throughout the second half which resulted in another 2 goals.
Our speed allowed us to travel up the sidelines opening the field up for all players. Overall we played a strong game and we will definitely walk away from it with a positive attitude.
Best and Fairest: 2 Nicholas 2 Luke 2 Skye.
Sutho U13a Geckos 1 Sutho U13a Blue Tongues 0
The Battle of the Lizard s Trophy was on the line today. Both teams went out hoping for a win and we were the lucky ones to come away with it.
We fought hard in the first quarter to keep the score at 0 – 0. Leo scored our one and only goal in the second quarter and from there, the score remained the same.
There was some great passing between our players as well as some fantastic defending. We kept the pressure on the Blue Tongues as they continued to try and even the score.
The defenders worked hard, with Isabelle, to keep the ball out of the goal, especially when we had four defending short corners in very short succession. Well done everyone on a hard-fought game.
Best & Fairest: 2 Leo Matthews 2 Darcy Matthews 2 Luke Erikson.
Sutho 13B Bearded Dragons 3 Sutho Thorny Devils 3
In a tightly fought Lizard Trophy game between the Bearded Dragons and the Thorny Devils, the main highlight was the hat-trick of goals from Rowan. He’s scored all of the team’s goals so far this season.
Early on we showed good ball control with strong left-side play through Georgia and Abby, with Ariana making a good assist for Rowan’s first goal. There was good defence by Bridget and Jack at the back, with good pushes up through the middle with Caitlin, Ariana and Abby in attack. The Bearded Dragons were the better team going into half-time with a 2-1 lead.
The second half saw a concerted push into our half by the Thorny Devils with some tight tussles leading to a levelling of the scores in the third quarter. Some great saves from Ryan in the goals kept it even.
More attacking raids by the Thorny Devils in the third quarter were repelled by good defensive efforts by the team. Against the run of play, Ariana sent a perfect ball up through the middle that left Rowan by himself from halfway with just the goalie in front of him. He deftly pushed the ball past the keeper into the back of the box to give the side a 3-2 lead.
We thought we had the game in the bag but with 20 seconds to go, a short corner resulted in the Thorny Devils scoring the equaliser to make it 3-3.
Overall, the result reflected the closeness of the game. It was the first hit-out of the season for a number of our players and it was great to see those players plus all of our other players not mentioned make contributions to the team.
Best and Fairest: 3 Rowan 2 Abby 1 Ryan.
U11A Sutho Blue Tongues 7 Glebe 0
It was a bright morning for our early start at Kyeemagh.
We started well, applying lots of pressure and our passing was good, with some great positioning from Mila in the left striker role. There was a lot of bunching in the middle from Glebe but that allowed Grace and Saskia to transfer across the back and along the wings, while Christopher was strong in his positioning in midfield.
It was 5-0 at half time so we rotated players around in the second half to give everybody some time on the ball. It was pleasing to see our short corner combinations coming on and providing four of the goals. Well done team, take a well-deserved rest next week as we have our bye.
Best and Fairest: 3 Beckett 2 Christopher 1 Grace. Goals: Rhydian 3 Beckett 2 Cayleb 2.